Memory Lane
by NeitherPeaches
Summary: AU. Lydia has just turned eighteen and is leaving home for college, on the day after her friendship anniversary with her best friend, nonetheless! As a present, Beetlejuice gives her the ultimate going-away gift: a literal trip down memory lane. Minor hints that Lydia has a crush on BJ scattered throughout.
1. Chapter 1

"...And I believe that's the last of it." Lydia let out a sigh of relief, flopping back-first down onto her stripped mattress. The now eighteen-year-old wiped the dewdrops of sweat that dribbled down her ivory face and took a deep breath in, staring blankly at the ceiling for a few seconds before sitting back up again and taking in her surroundings. Now that her closet had been practically devoid of every one of her favorite outfits, her camera, art supplies, and sewing machine tucked neatly into cardboard boxes haphazardly piled in a corner near the door, and her walls were looking surprisingly naked without the myriad in horror film posters, Edgar Allan Poe quotes, and various concert photographs and magazine clippings of Robert Smith, Siouxsie Sioux, and Danny Elfman, it finally began to dawn on her that the room she had used as her sanctuary for the past seven or eight years of her life in Peaceful Pines was no longer going to be hers. She was finally an adult, finally moving out, finally going to college.

Propping herself back onto her bare mattress, Lydia began to reflect and assess all of the emotions she had running around inside of her mind. She spent time with thought of it all, and every emotion that came with it. One by one, she let them meander into her seemingly-endless stream of consciousness, letting them wander as she watched her feet dangle below her as her heart danced with excitement and joy, and then seconds later pined with fear and sorrow, letting these emotions swing back and forth like the pendulum of an antique clock. There was both a heaviness and an air of worry in the simple, seven-letter word, but at the same token, it was joyful, and thrilling, like any good horror novel or film, she thought, trying to compare the unfamiliar to something she probably knew better than anyone; at least, anyone living. She chuckled silently and resumed her thoughts. Sure, highs-ghoul (_heh... highs-ghoul... I'm starting to sound like Beetlejuice..._) was over, she was moving hours away from her loved ones, and just the thought of living with a complete stranger made her skin crawl, but at the same token, college was a time for her to improve in her craft and learn how to make a career out of doing it, and finally figure out who _she _wants to be. To Lydia Deetz, college ultimately meant that "normies" no longer could dictate her life, and that thought, was probably the most exhilarating thing of all.

Finally letting her mind clear, she returned to her original position and took a deep breath in, placing her hands on her stomach, feeling how it expanded and released with each subsequent breath thereafter, allowing her eyes to close. _This is the adventure of a lifetime _she thought, and she decided no longer to focus on the subject. Turning her head slightly to the left, she noticed that she had accidentally left a small, midnight purple picture frame laying face-down on her nightstand, assuming she had meant to pack it, but had almost completely forgotten about it until now. Reaching over, she picked up the frame and took a good look at the portrait inside. It was Beetlejuice. Looking into the mischievous yellow eyes of her ghoulish best friend, her eyes widened and her heart began racing: _Oh no... _she thought, _Oh no oh no oh no I'm going to be late! _

Literally jumping off of her bed, Lydia ran into her closet, digging through the piles of remaining loose articles of clothing, old dolls and toys, and rolls of unused camera film. "Ooooh I'm late... Of all the days I could have been late, it's today... As if trying to break the news to BJ was bad enough, being late with the 'B Words' makes this ten times worse!" she cried, feeling around for what she was looking for. Finally, after a few seconds of fruitless searching, she noticed a small, black and white-striped package sitting at the top of one of her shelves inside of the closet. _Gotcha. _she thought, reaching up and snagging the carefully-wrapped gift. As soon as she walked out of her closet, package in hand, she rushed over to the bay window, drew the blinds and switched on her table lamp. Taking a deep breath to compose herself, she then proceeded to recite the signature chant:  
"Even thought I should be weary, still I venture someplace scary. Ghostly hauntings I turn loose, Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice!" A cloud of purple smoke engulfed the young woman as she donned her signature red spiderweb poncho and black leotard, whisking her away to the ghostly Neitherworld.


	2. Chapter 2

As soon as she reached the front steps of the Roadhouse, she immediately, and without hesitation, knocked on the door and rang the doorbell at least twice in a row. From inside, Lydia could make out a slightly aggravated voice grumble something that sounded like "yeah yeah, I'm comin', hold your horses", followed by a pitiful horse-like whinny. "Oh thank goodness"_, _she sighed, feeling slightly relieved, "Beetlejuice is home"_. _If the cadence and tone of the voice coming from inside didn't give it away already, she thought, the literal translation of "hold your horses" most definitely did. After another second, the door creaked open, revealing Beetlejuice standing in the dead center of the doorway, looking a little down in the dumps.

"Hi, BJ." Lydia spoke, a small smile forming on her lips, concealing the fact that she was feeling worried about Beetlejuice's unusually gloomy disposition.

Looking up at the young goth woman who had grown exceptionally tall since the day they first met, Beetlejuice's sour mood quickly melted away. "Heya Babes!" he cheered, "I thought you'd never come!"

Her own mood began to lift as her poltergeist pal welcomed her into his home, responding to him with: "Hey, of course I was going to come! How could I _not _come today; It's only the most important day in the whole world to me, apart from Halloween!" she shut the door behind her and took a better look around her. The halls of the Roadhouse were decorated extravagantly with balloons, streamers, confetti, and Halloween decorations Beetlejuice had purchased (or sometimes stolen, but Babes didn't need to know that) from Outer World department stores during the one season he could walk around in the world of the living without having normies bat an eyelash and or having to wear overalls or a skirt if he didn't want to. Lydia smiled ear-to-ear, admiring the ghost's handiwork: "Beetlejuice, this is amazing! By far your greatest decoration display yet!"

Beetlejuice proceeded to transform into a black and white striped ram and hid his hooves behind his back, "Aww shucks, Babes, you flatter me," he cooed, "Yer makin' me sheepish!"

Lydia laughed as Beetlejuice returned to his abnormal self. "No, I mean it! It's beautiful, Beej! Thank you!" She then proceeded to wrap him up in a big hug, making him smile.

"Oh! If you think _that's _great!" the Ghost with the Most chimed, "You should take a gander at the present I gotcha!" Using his "juice", the B Guy then proceeded to pull a perfectly-wrapped present with a heart-shaped gift tag marked "To Babes" in the ghost's own handwriting out of thin air.

Excitedly, she took the box from his hands, untied the bow, and tore open the wrapping paper, and lifted the lid to reveal a small book with a spider web print engraved into it. She took a closer look at it. From far away, the book appeared to be a rather expensive gift, and as she ran her hand over the cover, she concluded that due to the texture, it must have been bound in leather, therefore proving that Beetlejuice had most likely either spent a small fortune on it, or stole it (she hoped and prayed it was the first option). Tracing her fingers through the custom-carved pattern, she lead herself to the center of the book, where "BJ + LD" had been painted onto a non-carved oval of leather in a sparkly silver paint.

"Beetlejuice, it's beautiful!" she whispered, marveling at the detail of the little leather book in her hands.

"Open it."

She did as the ghost had told her to do. Inside were professionally-printed photographs of her and Beetlejuice together from all sorts of their adventures around the Neitherworld over the years. If she wasn't already smiling as widely as she could have possibly could have, she certainly was now. Letting out a dreamy sigh, she sat down on the nearby love seat and wistfully flipped through the pages and pages of pictures, every once in a while pointing out a memory she recalled from looking at certain pictures in particular.

"Hey, that one was of the day you and I brought Doomie back to life!" Lydia smiled, pointing to a Polaroid of them and their sentient vehicle with "it lives!" written underneath of it in green gel pen. "Oh! And that one was of the time we escaped from being trapped inside that video game! And this one is of you as Odious after you won that dog show by a landslide!"

"Babes, we never speak of that."

Lydia laughed, "Sorry BJ. I promise I won't, but at the same token, if you didn't want me to point it out, you should have probably refrained from putting pics of Odious in the album.

"Fair enough..." Beetlejuice grumbled as Lydia flipped the page, immediately changing the subject a second after: "Ooh! What was that picture from?"

"I don't know." she responded, scratching the top of her head for a second, "It looks like that time when we decided to go on the cruise and got stuck in the Bermuda Shorts Triangle and you sang karaoke, but I'm not entirely sure yet. It could also be that time you took my mom, dad, and I to Hotel Hello and my mom got abducted by a vampire... I certainly hope that wasn't a photo from _that _whole fiasco!"

That was Beetlejuice's cue. He then proceeded to wrap his arm around her shoulder and inch closer to her, causing her to blush. He looked her square in the eye, mischievously and playfully furrowed his brow and asked her: "How's about you and me find out?"

"F-Find out?! Huh?! How are-?"

Before Lydia could say one word more, the Ghost with the Most raised his free arm, snapped his blood-red fingertips and in the blink of an eye, the two of them were transported into the photograph.


End file.
